A federal court has mostly dismissed the Department of Justice’s (DOJ) attempts to break up Google, choosing not to require the company to separate its Chrome browser or enforce broad bans on payments. However, the court did order new requirements for data sharing.
Jessica Melugin, director of the Center for Technology and Innovation at the Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI), commented on the decision. She said: “Today’s ruling in the Google search case wisely avoids most of the requests from the Department of Justice, including a forced divestiture of Chrome and Android, overly broad payment bans, and other requested overreaches. But the mandated data sharing introduces questions about who might qualify as a ‘qualified competitor’ and if that benefits consumers, or just Google competitors. Google is right to appeal the case on the initial finding of merits.”
The ruling means that while Google will not be required to split up some of its major products or face wide-ranging restrictions on business practices, it will need to comply with new rules related to how it shares certain data with competitors. The specifics regarding which companies are considered “qualified competitors” under these rules remain unclear.
Google plans to appeal aspects of the court’s decision related to liability in this antitrust case.
